Dangerous Year for International Reporters

International reporters faced many risks – as usual – this year. Maybe even more so than recent years, judging from a recent report from CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists). Worst place to be? Not surprisingly, Syria.

As a rule, CPJ states, nine out of ten killed in the line of duty are ”local peopl covering local stories”. In 2014, almost one out of four journalists killed were foreign correspondents. All in all, 60 journalists or more died in 2014 while on assignment. Some of the most well-known cases were Americans James Foley and Steven Sotloff, kidnapped and executed by the so-called Islamic State, operating in Iraq and Syria. In Syria alone, 17 reporters were killed. In Iraq there were five, four in Israel/Palestine, five in Ukraine and three in Pakistan. Most of these countries are already considered dangerous places for journalists because of prolonged armed conflicts, while the three murdered reporters in Paraguay was unusual.

Other trends emerging in the report: Half of the killings happened in the Middle East. More than 40 precent of the journalists killed were targeted. Some of them had received threats before. The most dangerous topics to cover are – also not unexpected – politics, war and human rights issues. CPJ, an organisation that’s been doing these investigations for over 20 years, emphasizes their strict criteria for determining whether or not a reporter or photographer really was killed ”in relation to his or her work”. Other similar organizations might use ”different criteria” and ”cite higher numbers of deaths”.